Or at least that is what they are purposing to do.
The change, likely do to some process I'm sure they'd love to ignore, requires a public comment period.

- Title X is the U.S.'s only federal program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventative health services.
- Title X funding is prohibited from going towards services and procedures for fully elective abortions.
- Title X funding helps some 4 million patients a year.
- Planned Parenthood is the single largest provider utilizing those funds, servicing some 41% of those patients.
- The ~3% of the procedures that Planned Parenthood does are abortions and are not funded through Title X. Planned Parenthood keeps those monies separate, but not typically the buildings in which they provide services, for ease of access for patients.

So, what does this proposed rule change involve?

- would make clinics that provide abortion services ineligible for Title X funding.
- would require a "bright line" of physical and financial separation (the latter already happens) between Title X services and providers of that perform or support abortion services or refer to abortion as a method of family planning.

These requirements were in place, but not enforced, during the Reagan era, and were held up in court. The Reagan regulation additionally prohibited counselling for clients about abortion. Though what today's HHS proposes takes away requirements to provide pregnant women the opportunity for neutral / fact-based counselling on abortion unless she indicates she does not wish to receive such information (great for pro-life Crisis Pregnant Centers...).

This, like the Texas state laws trying to needlessly regulate abortion clinics like ambulatory surgical centres, appears to be designed to decrease access to abortion for low income women.

It could force Planned Parenthood, and organizations like them, between having to choose to provided most reproductive services or one reproductive service in the low-income areas they service. And if they manage to maintain their level of service, fully physically and financially separate, then it will increase their costs, managing double the locations.

One story they shared at the end shows how even that wasn't good enough though. Because it is not about the government and tax dollars not paying for elective abortions (which they already don't), it is about trying to stop them. Colorado did something similar on the state level. They have one Title X recipient, Boulder Valley Women's Helath Centre. 8 years ago they separated their family planning and abortion provider operations to comply, but they got disqualified from receiving state family planning services funds anyways.

Rules for surviving an Autocracy:

Rule#1: Believe the Autocrat.
Rule#2: Do not be taken in by small signs of normality.
Rule#3: Institutions will not save you.
Rule#4: Be outraged.
Rule#5: Don't make compromises.
Rule#6: Remember the future.
- Masha Gessen
Source: http://www2.nybooks....r-survival.html

- would make clinics that provide abortion services ineligible for Title X funding.
- would require a "bright line" of physical and financial separation (the latter already happens) between Title X services and providers of that perform or support abortion services or refer to abortion as a method of family planning.

I've seen lots of disagreement over what the second requirement means. Is it a clear gag order, a unclear gag order, or no gag order and just saying that they can't do those services in the same clinic?

And this new rule would prohibit medical providers from referring a woman to an abortion clinic.

If worded correctly that would seem either
a) The clinic's personnel can't personally refer a woman to an abortion clinic by the personnel calling the abortion clinic to discuss or set up anything.
b) The clinic's personnel can't even discuss with a woman anything about abortion, even if she asks, or maybe can discuss abortion as a generic option but can't tell the woman where the abortion clinics are or how to get in contact with them, and essentially has to say "look it up yourself…. or then I can't take care of the rest of the patients in the waiting room". And would that extend to educational pamphlets available?

Edited by sierraleone, 18 May 2018 - 05:58 PM.

Rules for surviving an Autocracy:

Rule#1: Believe the Autocrat.
Rule#2: Do not be taken in by small signs of normality.
Rule#3: Institutions will not save you.
Rule#4: Be outraged.
Rule#5: Don't make compromises.
Rule#6: Remember the future.
- Masha Gessen
Source: http://www2.nybooks....r-survival.html